News from Latin America and the Caribbean

'The Other Battles' -- photos from Ciudad Juarez

June 24, 2010 | 12:59
pm

Here are images from "Las Otras Batallas" ("The Other Battles"), a photography exhibit being organized by El Diario de Juarez, a daily newspaper in Ciudad Juarez. The exhibit is a sample of the newspaper's best work by photographers who cover on a daily basis the effects of narco-related violence in the embattled border city, Mexico's deadliest.

"This collection of images is a sample of the strength of a community that overcomes fear every day," the Diario de Juarez photography editor, Ricardo Lopez, said in an e-mail. "It's a unsettling portrait of the human drama, misery, death, indifference and solidarity. This is a vision that transports the viewer to every corner of Ciudad Juarez."

More images from the show are viewable here, including one depicting the mother of a murder victim standing and turning her back on President Felipe Calderon and First Lady Margarita Zavala during a series of town hall meetings this year. Other images document moments of unbearable agony from scenes of violence, and also moments of humor and wonder from everyday life.

Juarez remains "under siege" day after day as drug-trafficking organizations fight one another and the government for control of one of the most lucrative entry points to the United States for illegal narcotics.